White House views aggressive immigration enforcement as winning issue
On the campaign trail last year, Donald Trump promised that he was not going to tolerate left-wing lawlessness on American streets and would use the full force of his presidential powers in response.
The protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcement efforts in California on Saturday night gave him an opening to follow through on that promise.
Never mind that the Los Angeles Police Department said that the protests were largely peaceful or that the ones that were more disruptive involved just a few hundred individuals at most.
Over Governor Gavin Newsom’s objection, Trump federalised the 2,000 California National Guard soldiers, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that US Marines were on “high alert” to also deploy – which would mark a rare use of active duty US military on American soil.
By Sunday morning, Trump was declaring victory and thanking the National Guard for restoring peace, even though the guard had yet to assemble.
The speed with which Trump reacted, even while he was sitting ringside at a UFC match in New Jersey, suggests that this is a fight his administration is prepared for – and even eager to have.
The White House believes that law and order and aggressive immigration enforcement are winning issues for him. His actions will thrill his core base of supporters and could sway political independents concerned about public safety.
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